10 January 2011

Trainer Edwards Pleads Guilty To "Electric Shock" Device

The immediate future of leading trainer Shane Edwards "hangs in the balance after he pleaded guilty to 2 charges laid by West Australian stewards, following their investigations into an assault on track rider/stable-hand John Anderson" reported The Sydney Morning Herald. Edwards was charged with misconduct & for possession of a device "capable of delivering an electric shock to a thoroughbred". In December, Edwards, 36, was fined $900 in the Midland Magistrates' Court after pleading guilty to possessing a prohibited weapon & to common assault. Edwards admitted he had bought "4 mobile telephone stun-guns during a holiday in Bali last year". The phone has 2 nodes at the top & a trigger on the side and, according to evidence given by electrical contractor Michael Frecker, "is capable of delivering voltage of similar power to a police taser". Edwards claimed the phone was kept in his wife Julie's underwear draw at his home on a separate property & he had taken it with him as protection prior to the altercation with Anderson. Chief steward John Zucal announced that, due to the seriousness of the matter, the penalty would not be handed down until Tuesday (tomorrow).